Native marathoner hit stride running Reeve Foundation

FRANK H. CONLON/THE STAR-LEDGERPeter Wilderotter, president and CEO of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.

Peter Wilderotter, president and CEO of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, knows that business is a marathon, not a sprint.

“There aren’t any quick fixes anywhere,” Wilderotter said.

He can back up that opinion with experience — with 11 marathons under his belt, the New Jersey native knows the pain of the 26.2-mile race forces him out of his comfort zone, and it is a mindset he uses with the Short Hills-based Reeve Foundation.

Wilderotter’s dedication to philanthropy began more than 40 years ago, when he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He swore that if he recovered, he would dedicate his life to helping others.

He began working with the American Cancer Society and moved on to leadership positions at Planned Parenthood and WNYC. Wilderotter was hired at the Reeve Foundation in 2007, shortly after Christopher Reeve’s death.

Under Wilderotter’s leadership, the Reeve Foundation has raised more than $100 million, which goes toward helping those with spinal cord injuries, as well as research for a cure.

Q. What has drawn you to the nonprofit organizations you have worked for?

A. I think there are always three questions that I’ve asked every time an opportunity presented itself. The first is, is it a mission that is consistent with my values? The second, is the organization well-led — because, you know how they say in real estate, it’s about “location, location, location”? In philanthropy, it’s about leadership, leadership, leadership. The third question is, are the best days ahead of it or behind it?

The mission is the one that I have to feel strongly about. Of the other two, if I can feel one of those two, then I want to be there and be a part of it.

If I’ve answered all three, then I feel my skills and talents might be useful.

Q. What strategies have you instituted for strengthening the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation throughout the recession?
A. It’s been really hard. The first thing that we did was we agreed that in this field, you have to be transparent. Hard choices would have to be made, so everything we had to do was about collaboration, communication and coordination. We asked all our staff not to take raises for several years. We had to make some cuts through some of our programs.

We had to diversify our income. I had to go to our board members to make some significant pledges to get us through what were going to be difficult times.

This enabled us to actually grow — a couple of years we stayed flat, but staying flat through the recession was growing. We got through them successfully.

Q. How have you focused the message of the Reeve Foundation?
A. We took it all apart. We looked at our board and we got key board members to take on discrete areas of our project — one for communication, one who handles our finances. On the communication side, they pulled everything apart (and) created a message and the dual themes of “Today’s Care and Tomorrow’s Cure.”

We also looked around the country and saw there were simply too many nonprofits doing the same work.

We began doing outreach and seeing where we could merge.

Nearly a dozen nonprofits have aligned with us in one form or another. They use the brand and the umbrella of the Reeve Foundation and use what we’ve already built up to meet their own needs. It’s kind of focusing and training people to collaborate more.Sarah Schillaci